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Harold MacDougal
is a minor character featured in Red Dead Redemption. Addicted to intravenous cocaine, he is an incompetent Yale Professor of Anthropology, discredited by his peers. Red Dead Redemption When John Marston and Archer Fordham retrieve Nastas from Dutch's trap at the Wreck of the Serendipity, They drop him off at Professor Macdougal's house to recover. Edgar Ross instructs Marston to pay him a visit later. When John Marston visits Macdougal again, he finds him comparing blood samples of in his opinion, the 'savage' Native Americans and the 'civilized' white man absolutely shocked to see that they are exactly the same. Nastas enters to which Macdougal tries to communicate with sign language and metaphors, but Nastas responds by speaking in a perfectly normal manner. Nastas claims to know the location of Dutch Van Der Linde. They follow Nastas into Tall Trees, But Macdougal returns partway obviously frightened. When Marston gets knocked out, Nastas ran up the Mountain and carried him back to Macdougal, where he revived him with smelling salts. He claims he and Nastas carried him back but after an angry glare he told the truth, When John Marston encounters him. Nastas has arranged a meeting with Dutch's men at Bear Claw Camp. On the way they encounter a Grizzly Bear which Macdougal is horrified and shoots at, the bear gets angry and attacked. Marston killed the bear before it could make any damage. Nastas said the Bear meant no harm and would not have attacked if Macdougal had not shot first. The meeting did not go very well after Nastas was shot after being called a traitor. The professor cowered in fear as Marston fought of Dutch's men, then the two of then escaped back to Blackwater. Marston next found him him packing madly and repeatedly calling the natives "Fucking Savages!". He wanted to take the next train back to Yale. Dutch Van Der Linde approached his house from the street telling John to send Macdougal outside they could show him their own method of 'Anthropology'. Marston and Macdougal escaped via the rooftops but Dutch had snipers all over the city.John took the all put. They got on their horses and ran full speed to the train station at Manzanita Post. Marston killed any of Dutch's men trying to pursue them. When they reached the station. Macdougal thanked Marston for his help. He shakes his hand but gives up at gives him a big hug before boarding the train. Epilogue MacDougal succeeded in returning to Yale University. In 1914, MacDougal is caught beating a scholar on the head with a croquet racket while in a drunken state, and is fired. The newspaper article detailing this event emphasizes the "savagery" of the attack; an ironic choice of words, since MacDougal accuses natives of being savages. Mission Appearances *Bear One Another's Burdens *At Home With Dutch (Boss) *For Purely Scientific Purposes (Boss) *The Prodigal Son Returns (To Yale) (Boss) Trivia *MacDougal is exceedingly incompetent, demonstrating a terribly inaccurate understanding of the Theory of Evolution after having wantonly provoked a Bear. MacDougal defends his actions stating that it will strengthen the species. Over the next half-century, the Grizzly Bear would be driven to near extinction in much of the United States, to a population of 1-2% original size. http://www.vitalground.org/content.php?page=66.html *Later, MacDougal comments on the nobility of hunting Buffalo. Nastas remarks that they are being over-hunted. MacDougal dismisses the comment, declaring Nastas ignorant. In real life, the Buffalo was hunted to near total extinction on the North American continent. *MacDougal is a fairly realistic depiction of early pseudoscientific "arm chair" anthropology, as practiced by individuals such as Poalo Mantegazza. During the time period, the discipline saw an overhaul of the anthropological method by academics such as Franz Boas, E.B. Tylor and Bronislaw Malinowski. *MacDougal is a chronic cocaine addict. *Often times when Marston encounters MacDougal he is very jittery, a sign that he is under the influence of cocaine. *MacDougal is a very racist man, stereotyping all natives as "savages". *MacDougal seems to be unaware of his own Scottish heritage, when remarking negatively to Marston's comment about his father being a Scot. Category:Characters Category:Redemption Characters Category:Supporting Characters